The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in its Notification dated 27th November, 2019 has issued directions to every FSSAI licensed importer to ensure that all the imported packaged drinking water and mineral water products have Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Certification. It has been reported that a large number of food importers are engaged in the business of import of packaged drinking water without BIS Certification, under different brand name as proprietary product.

As per regulations, packaged drinking water and mineral water products need to have both, the FSSAI licence number as well as the BIS Certification mark, on their labels. The labelling of the packaged drinking water or natural mineral water shall be as prescribed under FSS (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, fancy name or abbreviation of food products shall not be used and name of products shall be in compliance with FSS (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018. The packaged drinking water shall be imported only from foreign manufacturers with BIS Certification.

Further FSSAI also directed officers tasked with giving clearance to imported food products at notified entry points, to be cautious about clearing consignments without BIS certification and other FSSAI requirements.